http://brandonstrader.bandcamp.com/

The main advantage is that you’ll get the CD quality audio this time as 320kbps MP3, FLAC, or one of the other more nerdy formats. I think there might also be some artwork included if you download the whole album, so you could print up your own CD with a case from that! There’s even a lyric page. Thank you!

Hey! I slapped this preview song for the new album up on MySpace and Facebook. I’ve always been a little silly when it comes to updating the “official site” last. Sax of Gold featuring guests:

Bradley Burr; saxophones
Daniel Lippert; percussion

I made this song in a few hours because there was a sudden “aha!” experience. I knew Brad was great with the saxophone, so I tailored this song to really display his talent. I recorded some percussion, like Maracas, tambourine, and some finger snaps… but the song needed something more.

Daniel Lippert, who is recording the drums for the upcoming full-length album, played the rest of the percussion for this track. I didn’t tell him what mood to do it in, and he went really hyper with it. His percussion shapes the mood of the song and I think he did an incredible job. He registered an account here as “Usa”, a very patriotic moniker. Perhaps one of these days he will make his own news post about his thoughts on the new album and recording the drums!

My parents are insane. Well, maybe not, but there has to be something wrong with them to be able to put up with me for as long as they have! Plus music is not a very cheap hobby.

As a sort of tribute to them, I wrote this song called “For My Parents” on the night of February 6th, 2010. It’s not really what a person would think of when you say “song”, it’s more like a little backing track to play a solo on. I have a ton of fun playing solos over any old song and there aren’t many instrumental things such as this to choose from. I really enjoyed making this.

I used the brand new Ibanez S7320 7-string guitar to play the solos. The other sounds are all from Cubase and played with the Keystation. I have been going really overboard playing with the whammy bar for the last 2 days while I’ve had this guitar. It is a ton of fun, and I really enjoy the sound, but I’m not sure how others will think of it. Hopefully they like it. Because it’s probably going to be a very common thing for me from now on!